Jennifer Ehle | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ehle in 2016 | |
| Born | (1969-12-29)December 29, 1969 (age 55) |
| Citizenship |
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| Alma mater | Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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| Awards | See below |
Jennifer Anne Ehle (/ˈiːli/; born December 29, 1969)[3] is an American and British actress. The daughter of writerJohn Ehle and English actressRosemary Harris, Ehle started her career acting on stage in the United Kingdom, with theEdinburgh Festival, theRoyal Shakespeare Company, and theNational Theatre. She earned aTony Award for Best Actress in a Play and a nomination for theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Actress inTom Stoppard'sThe Real Thing. She reunited with Stoppard acting in his playThe Coast of Utopia (2007), earning aTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She appeared on Broadway in theJ.T. Rogers playOslo, earning a second Tony nomination for Best Actress.
Ehle is also known for her film performances, includingThe King's Speech (2010),Contagion (2011),Zero Dark Thirty (2012),A Little Chaos (2014),Fifty Shades of Grey (2015),Little Men (2016),Fifty Shades Darker (2017),Fifty Shades Freed (2018),Saint Maud (2019) andShe Said (2022). She has also appeared in various television programs, includingNBC'sThe Blacklist (2014–2015), theHulu limited seriesThe Looming Tower (2016), theShowtime miniseriesThe Comey Rule (2020), and theCBS legal dramaThe Good Fight (2022). She received theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her role asElizabeth Bennet in theBBC miniseriesPride and Prejudice (1995). She starred in the 2023Amazon Prime miniseriesDead Ringers.[4]
Ehle was born inWinston-Salem, North Carolina, to English actressRosemary Harris and American authorJohn Ehle. Her ancestry includes Romanian (from a maternal great-grandmother) and, paternally, German and English.[5][6]
Ehle appeared as a toddler in a 1973 Broadway revival ofA Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother playedBlanche DuBois.[7] She spent her childhood in the UK and the US, attending several schools, includingInterlochen Arts Academy. She was mainly raised inAsheville, North Carolina. Her drama training was split between theNorth Carolina School of the Arts[8] and theCentral School of Speech and Drama in London.[9]
Ehle made her professional debut as Calypso inThe Camomile Lawn (released in 1992), a television adaptation ofMary Wesley'sbook of the same name, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages.[10] The director,Peter Hall, then cast her as Elmire in his 1991 production ofTartuffe, for which she won second prize at theIan Charleson Awards.[11][12]
One of Ehle's first notable roles was asElizabeth Bennet in theBBC1995 television adaptation ofJane Austen'sPride and Prejudice co-starringColin Firth, for which she won theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actress. The same year, she joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company, and gained her first major feature film role inParadise Road (1997).[13] She also appeared in supporting roles inBrian Gilbert'sWilde (1997) andIstván Szabó'sSunshine (1999).
In 2000, Ehle made her Broadway debut as Annie inTom Stoppard'sThe Real Thing, winning theTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.[14] That following year, Ehle appeared again on Broadway in the revival ofNoël Coward'sDesign for Living co-starring withDominic West andAlan Cumming.[15]
After a hiatus, Ehle returned to the London stage in 2005 inThe Philadelphia Story at theOld Vic oppositeKevin Spacey. The following year, she played Lady Macbeth inMacbeth withLiev Schreiber, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park.[15]
Ehle returned to Broadway portraying three characters in Stoppard'sThe Coast of Utopia triptych, which ran from October 2006 until May 2007.[16] Ehle starred alongsideBilly Crudup,Martha Plimpton, andEthan Hawke. Theatre criticBen Brantley ofThe New York Times praised her performance as "memorable".[17] For her performance ,she received her secondTony Award forBest Featured Actress in a Play.
In August 2009, it was announced that Ehle would play the character ofCatelyn Stark in the pilot ofHBO'sGame of Thrones, an adaptation ofGeorge R.R. Martin'sA Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series. Ehle filmed the pilot episode, but decided it was too soon to return to work after the birth of her daughter and she did not return to the production when HBO commissioned a full season. Northern Irish actressMichelle Fairley replaced her.[18][19]
In 2010, Ehle starred alongsideJohn Lithgow in the production ofMr. & Mrs. Fitch presented bySecond Stage Theatre in New York City.[20] Since 2010, Ehle has appeared in the filmsThe King's Speech (where she reunited with herPride and Prejudice co-starColin Firth),Steven Soderbergh'sContagion (2011),George Clooney'sThe Ides of March (2011),Kathryn Bigelow'sZero Dark Thirty (2012),Alan Rickman'sA Little Chaos (2015),Terence Davies'sA Quiet Passion (2016), andIra Sachs'sLittle Men (2016). She also appeared in the television seriesA Gifted Man (2011–2012).
In 2017, Ehle appeared on stage inOslo, which won theTony Award forBest Play. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for her work.[21] In 2018, she appeared in theHulu limited seriesThe Looming Tower as AmbassadorBarbara Bodine. The series also starredJeff Daniels,Bill Camp,Peter Sarsgaard, andMichael Stuhlbarg.
In 2020, Ehle reunited withJeff Daniels in the limited seriesThe Comey Rule which premiered onShowtime. Daniels and Ehle portrayed formerFBI DirectorJames Comey and his wife Patrice, respectively. In 2022 she also appeared in a variety of television projects including theApple TV+ seriesSuspicion as Amy, theShowtime legal dramaThe Good Fight as Judge Ashley Burnett, and theParamount+ western series1923 as Sister Mary.
Also in 2022, Ehle received positivereviews for her supporting role in theMeToo investigative dramaShe Said, portraying Laura Madden.TIME film critic Stephanie Zacharek described her as "superb" andJustin Chang writing forNPR declared her performance "quietly heartbreaking".[22][23] She also returned to the stage asGertrude in thePark Avenue Armory production ofHamlet in New York. Ehle received positive reviews as a last minute replacement forLia Williams.[24]
Ehle starred as Rebecca Parker in the 2023 thriller miniseriesDead Ringers. The series won aPeabody Award "for aptly packaging a bold adaptation of this twinned-bodyhorror classic within the continued nightmarish world of women’s reproductive health care in the United States."[4]
In 2024, Ehle appeared in four episodes ofLaw & Order: Organized Crime as Meredith Bonner, thePolice Chief of Westbrook, Pennsylvania, who assistsElliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) with the search for a serial killer.
Ehle was married to writer Michael Ryan from 2001[25]to 2025.[26] They have two children.[27]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Camomile Lawn | Calypso | Miniseries, 5 episodes |
| The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Zita of Austria | Episode: "Austria, March 1917" | |
| 1993 | The Maitlands | Phyllis | BBC TV production |
| Self Catering | 'Meryl' | TV movie | |
| Rik Mayall Presents: Micky Love | Tamsin | Miniseries, 6 episodes | |
| 1995 | Pride and Prejudice | Elizabeth Bennet | Miniseries, 6 episodes |
| 1996 | Beyond Reason | Penny McAllister | TV movie |
| 1997 | Melissa | Melissa | Miniseries, 5 episodes |
| 2008 | The Russell Girl | Lorraine Morrissey | TV movie |
| 2011–12 | A Gifted Man | Anna Paul | 16 episodes |
| 2013 | Low Winter Sun | Susan | Episode: "Ann Arbor" |
| 2014–15 | The Blacklist | Madeline Pratt | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | The Looming Tower | AmbassadorBarbara Bodine | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | The Comey Rule | Patrice Comey | Miniseries |
| 2022 | Suspicion | Amy | Episode: "Be the Gray Man" |
| The Good Fight | Judge Ashley Burnett | Episode: "The End of Ginni" | |
| 2022–23 | 1923 | Sister Mary | 4 episodes |
| 2023 | Dead Ringers | Rebecca Parker | 5 episodes |
| 2023–24 | Lioness | Mason | 7 episodes |
| 2024 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Chief Meredith Bonner | 4 episodes |
| 2026 | The Vampire Lestat | Gabriella de Lioncourt | TBA |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 1959 Pink Thunderbird | Edinburgh Festival | [28] | |
| Laundry and Bourbon | [28] | |||
| 1991 | Tartuffe | Elmire | Peter Hall Company | [28] |
| 1992 | Breaking the Code | Pat Green | Triumph Productions Tour | [28] |
| 1995–96 | Richard III | Lady Anne | Royal Shakespeare Company | [28] |
| Painter of Dishonour | Serafina | [28] | ||
| The Relapse | Amanda | [28] | ||
| 1999 | The Real Thing | Annie | Donmar Warehouse | [28] |
| Summerfolk | Varvara Mikhailovna | National Theatre | [28] | |
| 2000 | The Real Thing | Annie | Albery Theatre | [28] |
| Barrymore Theatre | [28] | |||
| 2001 | Design for Living | Gilda | American Airlines Theater | [28] |
| 2005 | The Philadelphia Story | Tracy Lord | The Old Vic | [28] |
| 2006 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | Delacorte Theater | [28] |
| The Coast of Utopia: Voyage | Liubov Bakunin | Vivian Beaumont Theater | [28] | |
| The Coast of Utopia: Shipwrecked | Natalie Herzen | [28] | ||
| 2007 | The Coast of Utopia: Salvage | Malwida von Meysenbug | [28] | |
| 2010 | Mr. and Mrs. Fitch | Mrs. Fitch | Second Stage Theatre | [28] |
| 2017 | Oslo | Mona Juul | Vivian Beaumont Theater | [28] |
| 2022 | Hamlet | Gertrude | Park Avenue Armory | [28] |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Best Actress in a Play | The Real Thing | Won |
| 2007 | Best Featured Actress in a Play | The Coast of Utopia | Won |
| 2017 | Best Actress in a Play | Oslo | Nominated |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Best Actress (TV) | Pride & Prejudice | Won |
| 1998 | Best Supporting Actress (Film) | Wilde | Nominated |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Best Cast in a Motion Picture | The King's Speech | Won |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Best Actress | The Real Thing | Nominated |
Outer Critics Circle Award
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Best Actress – Play | The Real Thing | Nominated |
| 2007 | Best Featured Actress – Play | The Coast of Utopia | Nominated |
Other award wins:
Other award nominations:
